The present invention relates to a zoom viewfinder, and more particularly to a viewfinder capable of zooming movement, for use with a zoom camera lens system of a lens shutter camera, a video camera, an SVC, or the like.
Some cameras, such as compact lens shutter cameras, have a viewfinder having its own optical axis which is in a position different from the optical axis of the camera lens system. Since the optical axes of the viewfinder and the camera lens system, there is a difference in viewpoint between the viewfinder and the camera lens system, a phenomenon known as the viewfinder parallax.
There have recently been developed compact lens shutter cameras with variable magnification. When such a camera makes zooming movement, the camera lens barrel is extended. At this time, the lens barrel may get into the viewfinder field, resulting in vignetting of light rays passing through the viewfinder.
To avoid the vignetting, it is necessary to keep the optical axes of the zoom camera lens system and the zoom viewfinder sufficiently away from each other. This solution then causes the parallax to be increased.
Efforts to improve zoom camera lens systems are always directed to an increase in the magnification ratio and a reduction in the close distance, among other things. However, increases in the magnification ratio and reductions in the close distance also result in an increase in the parallax, thus impairing the zoom viewfinder function unless some suitable measures are taken. There has been proposed no solution for solving the problem of the increased parallax.